The League V The Six Nations

Colm R

Its a common problem this time of year, and one that some get very emotional about.

Some are of the view that the GAA should not move games to allow people view other sports on TV.
Others are of the opinion that games should be scheduled so as not to clash with other major sporting events.


Its unlikely that other sporting organizations schedule games on All Ireland Final days, but sometimes, that is outside of their control given that there is often an international element to them.


I can understand the arguments for and against. However, the fact remains that this Sunday, there are 10 league games are starting at 2pm, and at 3pm, probably the most important game of this years Six Nations will kick off. The fact that Italy beat France last week adds to the significance of the match this Sunday.

Ultimately I fear, the biggest loosers will be the gate receipts, and TG4 who are showing the Dublin Kerry game.


But then what can they do:

- If Ireland play on a Saturday, move as many games as possible to Sunday, or vice versa. (This is not always possible, as not all grounds have flood lights). Its worth noting that there are 5 games on Saturday night.

- Move the game to before or after the rugby match. Problem here, is say this Sunday, the Dubs, Wexford, Laois, Galway, Antrim and Clare have pretty long journeys anyway. And secondly, people would have to watch the rugby in pubs, and some might not want to do this with kids, and hence won't travel anyway.



And this is the crux of the problem - The six nations and the national league happen this time of the year. They clash, and will continue to do so. But I don't think there is a solution.

What do you guys think?

Tom Joad

It's all irrelevant as the biggest game of the year decade is in Breffni Park on Saturday night so no clash of fixtures.. :D

Seriously though, its just one of those things that there is nothing you can do about - If Ireland had lost to Wales and France had tanked Italy, there wouldn't be as much fuss. There's a grand slam on so the focus is going to be on Rugby but the GAA should be strong enough and confident enough to look after its own affairs - it is the league in February - lets not get too carried away.

Its a media invention imho to get a story going - Rugby is getting stronger in this country so these things will happy - we had the same thing around the time of Italia 90/ Euro 88 and the GAA is still as strong as ever - thereis room for everyone and the GAA are right to keep the fixture list as is - as you said yourself OP not all county grounds have floodlights so moving to Saturday evening is not an option in all cases.

thesultan

I for will be watching Kerry v Dublin.

dcr22B

Personally, I blame Finuge

How dare they go and qualify for an All Ireland final the night before a big Dubs v Kerry game hence it being switched to Killarney!!!

Yes I know that is not the reason

iDave

To be honest the GAA are always in a no win situation when this happens. IMO matches should only be moved for major tournaments of if a trophy is on the line. If matches are moved every time theres a big game on the GAA loses credibility.
Also does anyone know if its coincidence that theres always a big Premier League match on at the same time as the All Ireland football final. For the last 5 or so years theres been a big clash or even 2 involving Man Utd/City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc

eyescreamcone

iDave wrote: »

To be honest the GAA are always in a no win situation when this happens. IMO matches should only be moved for major tournaments of if a trophy is on the line. If matches are moved every time theres a big game on the GAA loses credibility.
Also does anyone know if its coincidence that theres always a big Premier League match on at the same time as the All Ireland football final. For the last 5 or so years theres been a big clash or even 2 involving Man Utd/City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc

Please refer this question to Jim Corr or the Conspiracy Theories thread.
Reading v West Ham don't get the big sunday afternoon slot.

shockframe

I have no problem with the clash as I wont be watching the rugby anyway.

Sure some attendances may be down but they are not that high at most stages during the league.I will be looking to attend a schools football match and I'm sure there are more important schools/club games on this weekend that will hold more interest than dublin/kerry and ireland/england.

Dublin fans rarely get to go to Killarney so I'd guess there are many willing to go there this weekend.Also Kerry are coming off the back of a poor performance last sunday which has raised concerns over their future so that will also bring a few kerry supporters to killarney on sunday.

Its typical at times of the medias attitude towards the GAA. Man Utd and Everton is going ahead during the second half of the rugby but this hasnt been mentioned of course.

castletownman

It's the curse of the self-importance of the Celtic Tiger!

Ah no but in all seriousness, in 2011 Wexford were playing Offaly (I think) in the Leinster football championship on the same Saturday evening as the Champions League final between United and Barcelona. There was no effort made to move the game, even though I'd hazard a guess that there would be a bigger television audience wanting to watch that than any rugby match. Yet at the same time, over the last few years, as the popularity of rugby has exploded, there have been countless incidents of local GAA matches (be it league or championship) been moved to allow people to watch the rugby. In fact, it's more often than not a lot harder to get a re-fixture if there's a wedding on the same day/weekend etc.

Double standards.

keane2097

Without having appropriate figures to back it up, I would imagine the vast majority of GAA fans would prefer to watch both events, in which case ideally one or both of the games would be moved.

As the vast majority of rugby fans are probably not fans of or in many cases even aware of the GAA the GAA match is going to almost always be the one that would end up being moved.

Some people have a problem with this, but the thing to remember is that the GAA is run for its members. If the majority of the members would prefer for games to be moved in order that they not clash with other events this should always be attempted as far as possible IMO.

Dirty Dingus McGee

But do the majority of the GAA's members want the games to be moved?

Most people who go to league matches are die hard fans and the prospect of something being on television is not going to prevent them from attending their county's match.It probably wouldnt have caused much hassle for the GAA to move some matches but if they start moving matches for a rugby fixture which occurs every year then where do you stop.I dont think sports matches in England,Wales,Scotland,France etc are being changed to suit people who want to look at something on television why should we be any different

nice_guy80

It does nothing for the image of the GAA to have these issues in the first place

If you move it you are pandering to the rugby crowd
If you don't move you the GAA is hostile to other sports

jjjd

nice_guy80 wrote: »

It does nothing for the image of the GAA to have these issues in the first place

If you move it you are pandering to the rugby crowd
If you don't move you the GAA is hostile to other sports

Croke Park has postponed this weekend's league match between Carlow and London on account of the Six Nations match between Ireland and England.

Are they pandering to the rugby crowd? Not at all. It's just a practical and sensible decision. Costs of insisting this match go ahead this weekend are huge.

http://www.hoganstand.com/UK/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=185074

ormond lad

keane2097 wrote: »

Without having appropriate figures to back it up, I would imagine the vast majority of GAA fans would prefer to watch both events, in which case ideally one or both of the games would be moved.

As the vast majority of rugby fans are probably not fans of or in many cases even aware of the GAA the GAA match is going to almost always be the one that would end up being moved.

Some people have a problem with this, but the thing to remember is that the GAA is run for its members. If the majority of the members would prefer for games to be moved in order that they not clash with other events this should always be attempted as far as possible IMO.

Yes you can easily imagine that the vast majority of GAA fans would prefer to watch both.
The bit in red is rubbish. Honestly do you really believe that??
Games should ideally be organised so that the highest possible crowd can go but that can not always happen for a wide variety of reasons.

Fr Tod Umptious

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

But do the majority of the GAA's members want the games to be moved?

Most people who go to league matches are die hard fans and the prospect of something being on television is not going to prevent them from attending their county's match.It probably wouldnt have caused much hassle for the GAA to move some matches but if they start moving matches for a rugby fixture which occurs every year then where do you stop.I dont think sports matches in England,Wales,Scotland,France etc are being changed to suit people who want to look at something on television why should we be any different

I think you are spot on there , most member would prefer to go and see football in the flesh than watch rugby on TV.

I still to this day cannot get my head around why the GAA switched a NHL Final between Galway and Cork to 7pm on a Sunday in Thurles because Munster where playing a rugby semi-final in the afternoon, in France, on Sky TV

Madness

aidan24326

It's a matter of taking a common-sense approach. If, for example, Ireland soccer team were playing a major game in the Euro Finals or World Cup in mid-Summer on a Sunday afternoon or Saturday evening it would make no sense to have big GAA Championship games clashing with it.

But league games this time of year aren't exactly well attended anyway, tends to be the die-hards who go to Leitrim v Clare in Carrick or Louth v Galway in Drogheda. So it's not really an issue. You'll catch the 2nd half of the rugby in a pub if you want to.

wonder88

I remember that league final in Thurles well, also a football league final between Galway and Kerry in Limerick was also switched so the rugby fans could watch a Lenster/Munster game on sky as well. Went to both games (from Galway), but still do not understand why the GAA officers are so keen on promoting rugby to their own fans/members.

jjjd

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think you are spot on there , most member would prefer to go and see football in the flesh than watch rugby on TV.

I still to this day cannot get my head around why the GAA switched a NHL Final between Galway and Cork to 7pm on a Sunday in Thurles because Munster where playing a rugby semi-final in the afternoon, in France, on Sky TV

Madness

I disagree. Surely the GAA should be trying to maximise the tv audience for its games? Practically every county is struggling for sponsorship, etc. Take for example this weekend Kerry v Dublin clashing with Ireland v England. There are many people not from Kerry or Dublin who would like to see this game on tv in its entirety, and then change over to watch the rugby. It's not about the diehards who will attend the game anyway. What would be so bad starting the game an hour earlier?

jjjd

wonder88 wrote: »

I remember that league final in Thurles well, also a football league final between Galway and Kerry in Limerick was also switched so the rugby fans could watch a Lenster/Munster game on sky as well. Went to both games (from Galway), but still do not understand why the GAA officers are so keen on promoting rugby to their own fans/members.

That Leinster v Munster game was played in Lansdowne Road and it was a semi-final in the Heineken Cup. It was one of the biggest occasions in Irish Rugby history.

keane2097

ormond lad wrote: »

Yes you can easily imagine that the vast majority of GAA fans would prefer to watch both.
The bit in red is rubbish. Honestly do you really believe that??
Games should ideally be organised so that the highest possible crowd can go but that can not always happen for a wide variety of reasons.

The vast majority of rugby fans are outside the country, as such don't give a shít whether their match clashes with Kerry vs Dublin or whatever other game.

keane2097

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think you are spot on there , most member would prefer to go and see football in the flesh than watch rugby on TV.

I still to this day cannot get my head around why the GAA switched a NHL Final between Galway and Cork to 7pm on a Sunday in Thurles because Munster where playing a rugby semi-final in the afternoon, in France, on Sky TV

Madness

You can't get your head around the idea that a lot of people would want to watch both games? Or was this change of time more bizarre than I'm getting from your post?

cormac halpin

Christ but the papers love to blow this shít up don't they? Does anyone really care? A few hundred people, at most, will be affected by this. God forbid they have to make a difficult decision in their life if this sort of thing upsets them unduly. It's the league, it'll be forgotten about in a few weeks time. The GAA won't accommodate dual players in their own games, why should they go out of their way to support supporters who want to watch rugby?

Gimme a break.

Fr Tod Umptious

keane2097 wrote: »

You can't get your head around the idea that a lot of people would want to watch both games? Or was this change of time more bizarre than I'm getting from your post?

Ok tell me which of these two numbers you think is bigger.

The number of people who did not travel too the NHL final because was at an inconvenient time

OR

The number who would not have travelled too it because there was a rugby match in a pay TV station at the same time

keane2097

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Ok tell me which of these two numbers you think is bigger.

The number of people who did not travel too the NHL final because was at an inconvenient time

OR

The number who would not have travelled too it because there was a rugby match in a pay TV station at the same time

I don't see the relevance? Why not accommodate the many, many GAA people who want to watch both?

EDIT: Sorry, I see the issue i.e. the NHL being moved to a Sunday night. My apologies, yeah that's certainly going too far.

Fr Tod Umptious

jjjd wrote: »

That Leinster v Munster game was played in Lansdowne Road and it was a semi-final in the Heineken Cup. It was one of the biggest occasions in Irish Rugby history.

Well the league final was moved for logistical reason rather than in any deference to the rugby.

The other semi final was between two French teams and French TV dictated the scheduling of the games, resulting i.e. the Irish game being moved to Sunday.

It was not logistically possible to hold two big games in the one city at the same time hence the GAA moving to Limerick.

WumBuster

Find rugby very difficult to watch...dont like it's coverage or enjoy looking at oversized oafs piling up on top of one another the whole time..plus the rules are confusing...we really do have the most exciting 2 field sports in the world here in Football and hurling..
Dont know why the GAA dosent make more effort into exporting them i.e getting sports channels in other countries to show the games, as they are so fast and exciting they would catch on very quickly(with the right marketing structure)..time to stop this paranoid ''its ours, no one else can have it'' thinking. These are fantastic sports that everyone should be able to enjoy

ormond lad

WumBuster wrote: »

Find rugby very difficult to watch...dont like it's coverage or enjoy looking at oversized oafs piling up on top of one another the whole time..plus the rules are confusing...we really do have the most exciting 2 field sports in the world here in Football and hurling..
Dont know why the GAA dosent make more effort into exporting them i.e getting sports channels in other countries to show the games, as they are so fast and exciting they would catch on very quickly(with the right marketing structure)..time to stop this paranoid ''its ours, no one else can have it'' thinking. These are sports that everyone should be able to enjoy

Very harsh. Not oversized oafs at all. No need for insulting other sports
Laws of rugby are not that confusing. Some are
Football is not one of the most exciting field sports in the world. Hurling is but gaelic is nowhere near that level.
Who would watch those sports abroad and how would a market be built abroad to ensure a viable audience watches games?

WumBuster

ormond lad wrote: »

Very harsh. Not oversized oafs at all. No need for insulting other sports
Laws of rugby are not that confusing. Some are
Football is not one of the most exciting field sports in the world. Hurling is but gaelic is nowhere near that level.
Who would watch those sports abroad and how would a market be built abroad to ensure a viable audience watches games?

probably similiar people who'd watch the superbowl or cricket over here..just general sports fans and punters..if it was given enough profile by media and sports channels in other countries id have no doubt it the games would catch on and attract fans...how would the market be built..Im no marketing expert but it would need effort and some good salesmanship to get the major sports channels on board..the GAA dropped the ball by rejecting the Sky deal a few years back it could have opened our sports up to a whole new audience..but they dont seem to want that anyway

eyescreamcone

WumBuster wrote: »

probably similiar people who'd watch the superbowl or cricket over here..just general sports fans and punters..if it was given enough profile by media and sports channels in other countries id have no doubt it the games would catch on and attract fans...how would the market be built..Im no marketing expert but it would need effort and some good salesmanship to get the major sports channels on board..the GAA dropped the ball by rejecting the Sky deal a few years back it could have opened our sports up to a whole new audience..but they dont seem to want that anyway

You couldn't give away rights to the league games but some championship games could sell.
Backdoor games between Limerick and Leitrim don't draw much interest at home.

WumBuster

eyescreamcone wrote: »

You couldn't give away rights to the league games but some championship games could sell.
Backdoor games between Limerick and Leitrim don't draw much interest at home.

People criticize Gaelic football and sure it's probably second to hurling in terms of excitement but still don't tell me it's any less exciting than world renowned sports such as Soccer, tennis, Rugby,Basketball, cricket... as I've said it's all about marketing... The GAA need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that they have amazing sports that are very exportable..of course it wouldnt happen overnight, it may take a number of years to become internationally popular but if they only just devolop some basic strategy to popularize GAA internationally well that's a start at least..

wadacrack

WumBuster wrote: »

People criticize Gaelic football and sure it's probably second to hurling in terms of excitement but still don't tell me it's any less exciting than world renowned sports such as Soccer, tennis, Rugby,Basketball, cricket... as I've said it's all about marketing... The GAA need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that they have amazing sports that are very exportable..of course it wouldnt happen overnight, it may take a number of years to become internationally popular but if they only just devolop some basic strategy to popularize GAA internationally well that's a start at least..

Gaelic football is definitly less entertaining than top quality football or watching the best sports in the world. Better athletes in the other sports better to watch. Gaelic is entertaining but not to a worldwide audience

sliabh beagh

american football was practically unkown in this country untill channel 4 took the bull by the horns and started to show a live game every sunday. the game has a huge following in this country now. we certainly have a product (gaelic games) that with the right marketing push could soon have a global audience.

Dirty Dingus McGee

wadacrack wrote: »

Gaelic football is definitly less entertaining than top quality football or watching the best sports in the world. Better athletes in the other sports better to watch. Gaelic is entertaining but not to a worldwide audience

That is just your opinion, the entertainment value of sports is completely subjective.

If Gaelc football was so un entertaining as you say it wouldnt be the best attended sport in ireland or the all Ireland football final wouldnt have been the most watched sporting event in Ireland in 2011 or 3rd in 2012

Frankie Lee

One thing the GAA should do is introduce the most stringent anti-doping rules imaginable as given recent events in Australia and Spain it would be a huge success if the GAA could market itself as a drug free sport.

LOI soccer is also likely to be a drug free sport given the lack of resources though.

klairondavis

There was far greater entertainment in Castlebar today and down in Pairc Ui Rinn last night than the overhyped dirge served up at Lansdowne Road.

jjjd

klairondavis wrote: »

There was far greater entertainment in Castlebar today and down in Pairc Ui Rinn last night than the overhyped dirge served up at Lansdowne Road.

The game between Ireland and Wales produced great excitement and drama last week though.